Katharina Buczek
“Wild Heliconius appear to learn the location of reliable pollen sources and establish long-term ‘traplines,'” Dr. Montgomery explained.
“Traplines are learned foraging routes along which food sources are repeatedly returned to over consecutive days, an efficient foraging strategy similar to the behavior of some orchid bees and bumble bees,” he continued.
“However, the spatial learning abilities of Heliconius, or indeed any butterfly, had not yet been experimentally tested.”
So, these results imply that Heliconius butterflies might possess the ability to comprehend and remember spatial information over even more extensive areas.
Moving forward, the research team intends to explore how well Heliconius butterflies perform in spatial learning compared to their close relatives who do not consume pollen. According to the University of Bristol, this comparison could illuminate the ways in which an animal’s ecological niche influences the development of superior cognitive functions.
Moreover, the researchers aim to investigate the methods Heliconius butterflies use to navigate their environment. It’s thought that visual markers, like panoramic views, are crucial to this process. But they might also utilize other signals, including the sun or a geomagnetic compass, to find their way.
“It’s been almost a century since the publication of the first anecdotal story on the spatial capabilities of these butterflies. Now, we are able to provide actual evidence of their fascinating spatial learning. And this is just the beginning,” concluded Dr. Priscila Moura, the study’s co-lead author.
To read the study’s complete findings, which have since been published in Current Biology, visit the link here.
